Poll: Voters remain split on gay marriage

>>> friday marks the last chance this year that the supreme court could decide to take up gay marriage but the court of public opinion is in full session. new quinnipiac poll shows for the first time ever a majority of white catholics support gay marriage . still, most americans remain divided on the issue but it's close. gay marriage to pot, the same poll clearly shows that times, they are a-changing and brings us to today's "spin." when i was looking at the poll, not surprising, the major gap between young people and older people in terms of their attitudes, you know, young voters 18 to 29, support same-sex marriage. 67-29% of legalizing marijuana and reminded me in the wake of the election, ran paul suggested that maybe republicans could take up legalizing marijuana, at least decriminalizing marijuana. it's not actually a bad idea because it's very hard for the republican party given their reliance on the religious right as such a critical part of their coalition to fully imbrace gay marriage and they could sort of tamp down their vocal opposition to it. but i would think that there would be less resistance to supporting some sort of reforms in terms of the?why we deal with the war on drugs and it could provide somewhat of an opening to the younger generation.

>> that statistic there, 18 to 29-year-olds, in general that's where change comes from, that demographic, younger people. we saw take just the overall vote in the presidential election , there was a bigger gap this year than we have ever seen between the voting preferences of 18 to 29-year-olds and the voting preference of people a generation or two older than them. there's more stark difference and more dramatic this year an ever seen and gay marriage with 28-point support, 18 to 29. but i think that also works in terms of a sort of a force for change. it works within the republican party and take the issue of gay marriage . i'm sort of -- i'm trying to wonder and fig oure out in my head -- when will the party evolve and say it's fine and we're fine with it. i see it happening eventually and because of this -- demographics in age. look at evangelicals, roughly half of the republican party , almost half the republican party in terms of voting share in this year's shares identifies as evangelicals, asking them their view on gay marriage , you can't measure the support. so tiny. ask 18 to 29-year-olds evangelicals of gay marriage and support level at 44%. ? might have gone up since then and close to 50% among -- evangelicals and where the resistance coming from in the republican party so as that sort of cohort ages, expands, ages out, that's the future for the republican party . the change comes from within.

>> there's a question there, too, of the younger ones sort of having an influence on the older generation and happening at times, too.

>> maybe. i'm optimistic about the marriage equality in this country. not necessarily optimistic about the republican party coming along without being forced to come along but i'm looking at the quinnipiac numbers, encouraged about the future of the war on drugs. there's tremendous support of people for marijuana legalization , total numbers, 51% in favor of legalizing marijuana. among independent voters, 58% in favor. obviously, most democrats are in favor and most republicans --

>> where's the tremendous support in 51% is basically split. 51 to 44, there's a clear majority outside of the margin of error supporting marijuana legalization . men are strongly in favor. white people in favor 50 to 46. black people in favor 57 to 37. what's interesting is black people far more socially conservative . the gallup poll talked about the religious ethnic group in america. hispanics are tied. women and i don't understand why are against marijuana legalization , 52% to 44%. but i think a lot of americans are seeing that the ? prohibition of marijuana is not working. it is not positive. marijuana's not a gateway drug . criminalizing weed is not sustainable. we have to treat it like alcohol.

>> i think if we can just talk about sort of what republicans need to do about the youth vote , to sort of synthesize all of your points here, i think it's really tricky because young people by definition become older people. right? so it's hard to treat them as a monolith. young peoples' views on taxes change as they get older and different than women voters and black voters and gay voters who will always be women and black and gay. it's disingenuous for republicans to say we're pro-pot and then young people we're pro-pot. i don't think that looks very good so i think as i've said before when it comes to gay marriage and pot, maybe a less strident message is a good one, a more inclusive message. we have talked about ways the republican party can be sort of more open about gay marriage and decriminaliziing marijuana, too. i don't think catering to young people is really the authentic way to go.

>> do you think a smaller government issue, right? government getting out of your bedroom that if people want to smoke a little weed, go ahead. it is okay.

>> i want a big tent ? party and voices like ran paul to exist without being castigated out of the party for having those voices. that's inclusion. what i don't want is for people with traditional views on certain things to feel like they have no party. no one represents them anymore. so i think if the republican party can be that big tent and say, well, there's room for you here, but we are also going to be open minded on the issues, that could work out for them.

>> i totally get what you're saying and definitely this is the case where you find young people and saying something at 20 and then at 60 say, what was i thinking at 20? my question on gay marriage is, is this one of those things that isn't going to change? growing up in a different world.

>> i think --

>> trying to defend the traditional values but not expand the tent and won't have the big tent --

>> i think we need to speak to both people and allowing for people with those traditional views to not feel like they're terrible people and to feel like they have a home and speak up for their values i think is appropriate but also usher in a new generation i think of conservatives and voters in general who are more open minded . absolutely.

>> well, the stat showed, too, not just young voters changing on their acceptance of gay marriage . voters across all demographics are moving more in favor of supporting gay marriage . all right.

>>> straight ahead. the ? gop would have you believe medicare will make us all broke but in the guest spot the new republicans jonathan koen said, not so fast.